The invention relates to a method for characterizing a trailer attached to a towing vehicle, in which a kinematic model describing the trailer is given. The invention moreover relates to a driver assistance system for a vehicle/trailer combination formed from a towing vehicle and a trailer as well as vehicle/trailer combination.
It is already known from the prior art to support a driver of a vehicle/trailer combination formed by a towing vehicle and a trailer in maneuvering with the vehicle/trailer combination. For instance the driver can be supported in reversing with the vehicle/trailer combination in that a driving trajectory for the trailer is determined, which describes a anticipated motion of the trailer. This driving trajectory can be displayed to the driver for instance on an onboard display device. For predicting the motion of the trailer, in particular, properties of the trailer, such as geometric dimensions of the trailer, are required. These can for instance be manually entered by the driver of the towing vehicle.
It is also known to determine a length of the trailer automatically. For this purpose in the US 2011/0181457 A1 a vehicle length sensor for a vehicle of variable length is described. Such vehicle with variable length can for instance be a truck. In the US 2014/0277942 A1, a vehicle system for estimating a trailer length is described. For this purpose the system comprises a plurality of sensors, which are configured to measure a steering angle of the towing vehicle and a hitch angle of the trailer. By means of a kinematic model of the trailer and the vehicle, which correlates the hitch angle and the steering angle to a length of the trailer, the length can be calculated. According to the prior art consequently a plurality of sensors are envisaged at the vehicle/trailer combination, in order to be able to determine the length of the trailer correctly.